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29 May 2015

Since my last blog I did my final Le Cluck show which was a
blast. We had a dance warm up before the show and I threw some shapes as you can see here. I loved performing on the Warren main space. It had a huge stage,
brilliant lighting and excellent sound. I got to hang out with my comedy friends too. My
two favourite Le Cluck moments were dancing on the big stage like a crazy lady and
the man on the front row who shouted at me (well, Kirsty Bird) that I had a Kestrel on my t’shirt
not a falcon. In my head I wanted to shout back, “yeah, I know. That is why it’s
funny!” I didn’t, but I was secretly pleased after all this time performing
Kirsty Bird one person noticed. I was kind of sad we only got to do two Le
Cluck shows there. Thank you Team Le Cluck.

Last week I felt extremely tired and got into my PJ’s early
last Monday after work. I then got message from my cousin in the north saying I
should go see a show one of his bestfriends was teching. I then realised I had
a facebook friend request from my cousin’s friend, Andy, and then we started
messaging about the show he had brought down to Brighton from Manchester. They
were doing a show at Otherplace at the Basement called, ‘Sticky Digits : An
audience with Pamela DeMenthe’. It was a one woman show starring Jenny May
Morgan, actor, storyteller and comedy writer based in Manchester.(see pic below)

The earliest show time that week was at 9pm that night. I
felt it was my duty to go see it for my fellow northerners so I put my jeans
and top back on and headed out dragging a friend along too. (That friend reads my blog.) (Hi!)

You never know how a show is going to be especially when ‘friends
of friends’ or ‘friends of cousins’ are involved in it. I must admit I was
pleasantly surprised about the quality of the show. I laughed a lot and even
got stage envy as Jenny was able to use all the stage space in the pit area. I
loved the physicality of the performance. Got to catch up with Andy and Jenny
after the show which was lovely. Talked about the various comedy festivals and
I got some food for thought on where I could take my show next in the literal geographic sense.

It was such a busy week before the bank holiday so I used the
time over the three day weekend to cram in some shows and yet try and relax. I have built up a list
of things I have been to see. I will do a complete list of shows I went to see
in another blog post. Really love the city when the Brighton Fringe is on. I have probably said that a million times
throughout these blog posts.

I took myself out on Sunday to see random comedy shows, I let
myself bump into friends in town and eat lovely food from the stalls at the
Warren. My daily affirmation was to go with the flow and let things happen. I also
met up with my former movement/dance tutor, Ralf at my favourite café Chocaffinitea
for a chat about my show. (Hi Ralf!)(I
know Ralf reads my blog too) I got some great tips on improving my
characters physicality. I know this is an area I need to work on to polish up
my characters and define their personalities. The show I randomly turned up at
after discussing movement with Ralf was a dance show at Otherplace at the
Basement called, ‘Dance for me’. Very inspiring. After that at the same venue I
saw, ‘Beard’ who were just amazing!! Two female comedians with a really
original show. It was one of those shows you think of for the rest of the day. I got to fed Rosa (on the left of the pic below) pickles from a pickle jar.

The rest of the week I was gearing up for my show. My own third
solo show of the Brighton Fringe was last night (Thursday 28 May) and it went really well again.I managed to fill up the room and skilfully squeeze
people in. Was lovely to see Alex, the editor from Viva Magazine in the
audience along with Lynn Ruth Miller, comedian, and Julian Caddy, the Managing
Director from Brighton Fringe. Julian gave me a lovely tweet quote of, “Bloody
brilliant. Loneliness and breakdown has never been funnier!” Thank you, Julian.

We even had my yoga teacher in and a lady, just one lady,
who had a fleece with her. Hurray! She held it up and everything. (Come see the show to get why that is funny).
The team from Chocaffinitea came
to see me too. I have had many many many Brighton Fringe show meetings in that café
and many many many hot chocolates and cakes! They even brought me a little
truffle as a present. They were happy for me to put my flyers in their café from
about February too so I appreciate them a lot!

The show before mine was cancelled last night so I had extra
time to set up the room, meet and greet the audience and get myself in the
right frame of mind to perform. The getting to the venue and setting everything
up has been the only thing that really stresses me out. Often you only get 10
minutes to get in and set up before the audience want to start coming in. I am
so lucky to have a reliable tech in Alex who keeps me calm and who I trust 100%.
(Thanks Alex – not sure whether he reads
my blog).

The things that I was worried/anxious about did happen last
night like the lamp behind the curtain where I change was broken, one of the
stage lamps was broken so the stage was dark and a weird green. Plus, the microphone sounded like it had been
dropped on it’s head one too many times! Having the extra time to prepare
before the show meant I could deal with these things better. Luckily I always
carry a head torch around with me so I could use that behind the curtain to get
changed. I only have a 2 foot by 1 foot space to change in so light is
important. We kept the curtain open by the stage to get more stage light and we
just made do with the shitty mic.

I had also not been feeling well days before this show. I
had a sore throat, aching body and headache. I didn’t put it anywhere on social
media and am still ignoring the fact I am not 100%. I have been eating mega healthy and having solo dance parties in my living room to keep my energy up! But, to be honest with you it has been hard. I didn’t want anyone to be
put off the show because I said I had a sore throat. I got through the show
though and the adrenaline helped. I feel confident I can get through the
weekend.

I really felt free to play more with the audience and have
fun last night. I know this is going to carry on getting better with each performance. I
always told myself that one of my intentions was for the audience to have fun
and me to have fun with the audience. I think I am achieving that.

Someone leaving the show told me my show was better than things they had paid to see. Made me feel proud of myself. All those meditation
sessions imagining the room full at the Quadrant has become a reality. I know
the last show on Sunday 31 May at 5.45pm is going to be a riot. I think I may
even cry, but only because all my hard work has actually paid off. I will also
probably cry because the Brighton Fringe will be over. So, yeah. Come on Sunday
and watch me cry... after I make you laugh.

By the way, when you are doing a Fringe show, your living floor looks like this a lot...

I am also taking one of my characters to the Funny Women
Awardsheats tomorrow night to see if I can get through the heats again this year.
That will be on Saturday 30 May at the Komedia at 8pm if you fancy coming along.

Ok, I hope you all have a great weekend. Thanks to everyone
who has already been to my show and those of you coming on Sunday, I will see
you there!